


Holy Orders

by glitterburn (orphan_account)



Category: The Borgias
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2017-11-10 04:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/glitterburn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To an assassin, free will is worthless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holy Orders

There are few good assassins in Rome. Of mediocre assassins there are plenty, but good ones are hard to find. Partly because it is their nature to stay concealed, but mainly because Micheletto brooks no competition. 

He kills his rivals, for he wants no one else to serve Cesare Borgia.

This is the only autonomy he permits himself. In all other matters, he obeys his master. His Eminence often speaks of free will, but to Micheletto it is a meaningless concept. To an assassin, free will is worthless. An assassin must work for someone, and better it is that the master appreciates the artistry of his assassin. It is not enough for a master to pay coin and offer praise for a job well done. A good master will look upon the results of his assassin’s work and perceive the skill and joy behind it. He will see that it is no mere task to be carried out, like emptying night soil from a chamber pot; it is an offering. A sacrifice.

His Eminence is a good master. He recognises Micheletto’s deeds and takes a personal interest in his trade. Not many masters, especially men of the cloth, would be so intrigued by the garrotte or the blade or the lash. Even poison, a woman’s weapon, holds a fascination. Cesare commands, wants to know everything, and Micheletto obeys because that is how it is; how it should be.

An assassin who thinks for himself is a fool. Micheletto has killed enough to know that there is no higher purpose in life for one such as him. Perhaps there is a God, but He is usually absent when called upon. Holy vengeance has not yet touched him, but secular vengeance—that is different. An assassin needs orders to follow and the cloak of a protector to hide behind. He does not need politics or any kind of belief beyond self-awareness and a knowledge of the master he serves.

A good assassin is loyal, because to switch allegiance too often is to become a mercenary, and from there it is a slippery slope to perdition. Micheletto is uncertain of the existence of God, but he believes in Hell, and Hell is home to those who betray their true masters. Micheletto will never betray Cesare. His master is too good to him for Micheletto even to contemplate such an act of disloyalty.

He ponders, sometimes, the twist of fate that led him to exchange one cardinal for another. Orsini did not appreciate him, of course; that is the simplest justification. The more complex reason is that he recognised something in Cesare—a certain sort of kinship, maybe—or perhaps it was merely that Micheletto needed someone to give him orders, and Cesare, so long denied his true calling, needed someone to heed his orders and attend them without demur.

Micheletto does not enjoy the business of murder, but he enjoys the knowledge of servitude. There is no greater satisfaction than seeing done one’s master’s will. It is a sacred thing, service. Sacred, too, is the act of taking the life of another human being. Micheletto is never dismissive of his task, because to be dismissive of his victim would be to dismiss the importance of his master’s wishes.

Instead, Micheletto rejoices as he slits throats or pours poison or smothers or drowns or racks or stabs or strangles or crushes his master’s enemies. He takes no pleasure in killing, even feels a little pity for his victims, but he rejoices in his submission to a greater will, experiences the ecstasy of surrender to a more powerful design. 

When it is done, when he seeks his bed, he relives the kill. He takes himself in hand and brings himself to completion, and instead of the horrified, accusing faces of the dead, he sees Cesare, smiling in approval, smiling at Micheletto’s obedience.


End file.
